X-Men (1963) #34

Cover by Dan Adkins

Cover Date: July 1967

On-Sale Date: May 1967

Synopsis: The X-Men should be out rescuing Professor X, but instead they waste time fighting the Mole Man and Tyrannus.

CHRONOLOGICAL PLACEMENT

Page 1

This issue begins immediately in the aftermath of last issue, as the X-Men try to repair Cerebro so that they can track down Professor X.  Beast's description of Cerebro as being "just-repaired" is way off.  Cerebro was wrecked by Magneto back in X-Men (1963) #18, and repaired in #20.  I have issue #20 back in June, half a year ago, and it really can't be any more recent than that, as there are specific references to Summer, Autumn and Winter passing in the meantime.

Page 4, panel 1

Ralph Roberts (formerly known as the Cobalt Man) was on TV the other day talking about a new government project: a cobalt ship capable of reaching the Earth's core.

The narration says that the battle with the Cobalt Man in X-Men (1963) #31 happened several weeks ago.  If the timeline is currently in January of XY 2, that would put that story in December.

Page 5

Ted Roberts said that his brother made a breakthrough (the aforementioned cobalt ship) just last week.  X-Men (1963) #32-34 have all happened in quick succession, so Ralph's breakthrough must have come between issues #31 and #32.  The resultant flashback, in which Tyrannus kidnaps Ralph Roberts in order to force him to create a cobalt robot, happened in the afternoon, which would put it between issue #33 and #34.

Page 13, panel 2

The Mole Man is just off-panel here, gloating about how his diamond robot has been wreaking havoc on the forces of Tyrannus for many days.  Elsewhere, Tyrannus says that the Mole Man's robot was created recently, so there's a slight contradiction here.  To make it easier on myself I'll say it's been a few weeks, and place the robot's creation between issues #31 and #32.

Page 15, panel 1

The Mole Man and Tyrannus have been at war for a while, and during their last encounter the Mole Man nearly captured the Fountain of Youth from Tyrannus.  This happened in Tales to Astonish (1959) #80, which was published between X-Men (1963) #20 and 21.  Those issues form the Lucifer two-parter.  Whether Tales to Astonish happened before #20 or after #21 is anyone's guess.

Page 15, panel 2

Tyrannus notes here that he was banished from the surface world centuries ago.  A look at his history reveals that he was banished during the 6th century, by none other than Merlin.  Whether that was done by the real Merlin or the fake one that the X-Men recently encountered as the Warlock is anyone's guess.

Page 20, panel 5

After Tyrannus and the Mole Man are defeated (and left amnesiac by the waters of the River Lethe), Beast complains that he hasn't slept for about 43 hours.  He would have gotten up on the morning of Iceman's 18th birthday, and fought the Juggernaut that night in X-Men (1963) #32.  After midnight the X-Men and the Juggernaut had their return bout, in issue #33.  Following that he would have spent most of the day making repairs on Cerebro.  Then this issue starts in the evening, and ends a few hours after midnight.  That does come to around 43 hours, and shows that Roy Thomas is generally on the ball about these things.

COUNTING THE DAYS

This issue begins in the evening, on the same day that last issue ended.  At some point during the story midnight passes, and it ends in the early hours of the morning (say around 3am).